For Immediate Release
Contact
Richard Yost
richard.yost@bge.com
BALTIMORE (March 3, 2018) – BGE is continuing to restore electric service to customers affected by a powerful nor’easter that began moving through central Maryland on Friday and continued to cause damage to trees and power equipment through the day on Saturday. More than 400,000 outages occurred due to high sustained winds and gusts exceeding 70 miles per hour.
Crews are working in around-the-clock shifts to restore service as safely and quickly as possible. The vast majority of customers are expected to be restored by Sunday night with final repairs to pockets of more heavily damaged areas continuing into mid-week. Specific restoration times will be available to customers through BGE’s outage reporting channels as damage assessments are completed.
Crews from BGE’s Exelon sister utility ComEd in Illinois are anticipated to arrive Saturday evening. Additional crews from utilities located outside the large geographic area impacted by this storm are expected to begin arriving tomorrow.
High winds have persisted throughout today and have continued to down trees and limbs and limit the operation of bucket trucks used for overhead repairs. Additionally, damaged trees must be removed from power lines before repairs can be completed, extending the duration of power restorations.
BGE asks all customers, including those with smart meters, to report their outage. Outages may be reported online at BGE.com and via BGE’s free mobile app available at the Apple Store or Google Play. Customers may also report outages and downed wires by calling 877-778-2222, on BGE.com and through mobile devices. To sign up for email and text notifications, visit BGE.com/alerts.
Customers with special needs, such as those who may be elderly, disabled or dependent on electricity for medical equipment, should have alternate arrangements in place should they experience an extended power outage.
BGE's restoration priorities are public safety and critical care facilities, such as 911 centers, hospitals and pumping stations. Then restoration is generally scheduled so that the greatest number of customers can be restored as quickly and as safely as possible. However, in cases of extended power outages, consideration is also given to customers who have been without service for the longest.
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BGE, founded in 1816 as the nation's first gas utility and headquartered in Baltimore, is Maryland's largest natural gas and electric utility. The company's approximately 3,200 employees are committed to safe and reliable energy delivery to more than 1.3 million electric customers and more than 680,000 natural gas customers in central Maryland. In the J.D. Power 2017, 2018, and 2019 Electric Utility Business Customer Satisfaction Studies SM BGE was ranked Highest in Customer Satisfaction with Business Electric Service in the East among Large Utilities. In the J.D. Power 2018 and 2019 Gas Utility Business Customer Satisfaction Studies SM BGE was ranked Highest in Customer Satisfaction with Business Natural Gas Service among utilities in the East Region. BGE is a subsidiary of Exelon Corporation (Nasdaq: EXC), the nation's leading competitive energy provider. Connect with BGE on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, and engage with the latest BGE stories on bgenow.com.
Baltimore Gas and Electric Company (or "BGE") received the highest score in the East Region of the 2019 Gas Utility Business Customer Satisfaction Study and the East Large Segment of the 2019 Electric Utility Business Customer Satisfaction Study of gas and electric utility customer satisfaction among business customers. Visit jdpower.com/awards.